Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Gazette No. Sho. 57-7,972 discloses a fishing reel capable of measuring the length of the drawn-out fishing line.
This conventional reel is constructed such that an output gear is fixed to a handle shaft projecting into a reel body, and an intermediate gear engageable with the output gear and a driven gear rotatable in association with the output gear through the intermediate gear are housed in the reel body. A shaft of the driven gear passes through the reel body and projects to the exterior thereof, and a counter having a display unit is mounted on the outside surface of the reel body, so that the shaft of the driven gear associates with the counter.
However, since the conventional reel body contains therein the output gear, intermediate gear and driven gear and is provided at the outside surface with the display unit, it is required to construct the reel body to be large enough to house therein the above-mentioned gears, or strong enough to support the intermediate gear and the driven gear. This creates a problem in that the reel body must be large in size and have a complicated construction, thus leading to a high manufacturing cost. Also, the counter, which projects from the outer surface of the reel body, is subject to being broken due to contact with foreign objects.